


toy soldiers

by indecisivebehaviors



Series: Can't fight this feeling [6]
Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Children Being Completely Prepared To Dropkick Two Old Men, M/M, Multi, Panic Attacks, The Trio Doing Their Best, just so much angst im so sorry, kreese and silver are horrible people and i will die on that hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:09:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29551212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indecisivebehaviors/pseuds/indecisivebehaviors
Summary: They’re out sitting on the porch when it happens.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Miguel Diaz/Samantha LaRusso
Series: Can't fight this feeling [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200365
Comments: 9
Kudos: 85





	toy soldiers

They’re out sitting on the porch when it happens.

They don’t even react when they hear the creak of the side gate- it’s not uncommon for the kids to use that instead of the front door whenever they come home from school, or when their friends show up to mooch from the fridge. Daniel’s going on about something or other, he’d tuned him out a little when he’d started going into workplace gossip. He doesn’t bother looking up, from where he’s spread out on the deck.

Daniel cuts himself off mid-sentence, his face going stark white, and he doesn’t even need to look to know who it is.

He clenches his jaw in pain, shooting to his feet as fast as his aching ribs will allow him. He has to fight off a wave of panic when he sees Kreese standing there, a smirk on his face, and standing next to another man he doesn’t recognize, but whose laugh instantly reminds him of some B-movie villain. He moves to put himself between them and Daniel as much as possible.

He speaks up behind him, “What the fuck are you doing here, Silver?” The words waver, his voice starting to shake, and all the alarm bells start to go off in his head. He  _ knows _ that name, it’s just at the edge of his mind but he’s too distracted to think about it.

It’s _Silver_ , apparently, who speaks first, a sick amusement coloring his tone, “What? Can’t I visit my _favorite_ student? Didn’t you miss me?”

He doesn’t understand what that means, but he doesn’t have to. Daniel is  _ scared _ of this guy, that much is obvious, and if it’s obvious to him it’s probably obvious to whoever the fuck this asshole is. That’s enough for him to step forward, pushing past the pain and dropping into his fighting stance.

“I have no fucking idea who you think you are,” he growls, face set in a scowl, “but you both have 10 seconds to fuck off before I break your face.”

He knows he could take Kreese in a fair fight, maybe even with the other guy here too, but he knows this isn’t going to be fair- not with Daniel unable to stand on his feet, and him with his still broken ribs. Even without that, he knows Kreese better than that now; he’d never fight fair. 

He’s trying to go through all of the zen bullshit LaRusso’s been trying to make him do now but none of it’s working and his head is spinning. If he doesn’t play his cards right, he knows they might leave here in a body bag. He just has to  _ think. _

“Hey!”

_ Shit. _

“Kids stay in the house.” He can hear the tremor in Daniel’s voice, but he can’t risk looking back at any of them now, and  _ shit shit shit _ he’s only barely managing not to panic.

He doesn’t have time to react before Robby’s in front of him, Miguel, and Sam at either side, like a human shield wall, barking out, “Back the fuck off old man!”

“ _ Kids _ go back in the  _ fucking house. _ ” He bites the words out through gritted teeth, but none of them budge.

“I’m sorry, Sensei, but not a chance.” Miguel sounds resolute, and Sam is nodding with him, all of them geared up to fight, and he’s thinking about how hard it would be to knock all three of them out of the way if Kreese swings.

“Oh, how sweet,” Kreese is sneering at him, still unfazed, barely acknowledging them at all, “you’re going to let children fight your battles for you, Mr. Lawrence?”

“Johnny...”, and he knows Daniel’s trying to hold him back, keep him from doing anything reckless, but honestly, he’s fully prepared to body check several teenagers if either man even twitches in the direction of his kids.

Silver laughs again, “Thankfully, for you and Danny-boy here, that isn’t why we’re here.”

“We’ve come to, well, let’s call it a little  _ friendly _ wager, eh?” Kreese’s voice is almost teasing, under a thick layer of malice. “We can settle our differences at the All-Valley. Terms are simple enough. My students against yours. Losing dojo leaves the valley,  _ permanently. _ ”

The idea leaves him reeling, but before he can even totally process it the kids are talking.

Sam is scoffing, “You really think you’ll win? Against us? Two generations of All-Valley 1st and 2nd place? As if.”

Miguel laughs, but there’s no humor in it, “No way in hell.”

“Not a  _ fucking _ chance.” Robby practically growls.

He feels the chill that runs up his spine at the almost feral grin, “Well, if you’re all so confident about that, your Senseis should have no problems accepting the terms. So gentlemen,” Kreese turns his gaze back to him and he wants to vomit, “do we have a deal?”

He looks back at Daniel, who’s already staring at him, and it hits him just  _ how _ terrified he must be if he’s showing it so much on his face. When he meets his eyes, he’s searching for something, and Johnny thinks he finds it when something passes over his face. 

Daniel nods, “Deal.”

When he turns back to the two men, Silver’s smile’s shark-like, all teeth, “Just remember,  _ Danny, _ that if you lose-”

He cuts him off with a snarl, “We won’t.”

“Very well then, we will see you,” Johnny almost lunges when he drops his eyes to the kids, “ _ all of you _ , at the tournament.” And like that, as sudden as they’d appeared, they were gone.

His head is spinning, and it feels like his insides are on fire, can  _ feel _ the phantom hands around his throat-

“Daddy?”

-Sam’s voice cuts through the haze like ice water down his back, and he can hear the fear in her voice.

When he turns around he understands why. Daniel is still sitting on the deck, Sam and Robby are crouched beside him but he doesn’t even look at them, eyes wide and unblinking, staring at the gate, and his breath is coming out shallow and ragged, and he looks like he’s seen a ghost. 

_ Maybe he has. _

The thought is enough to get him to move. He kneels in front of him, leaning down to catch his eyes. He tries not to feel hurt, when Daniel flinches back when his hand touches his shoulder.

“Daniel? Hey, look at me okay?” Daniel is looking at him, but his eyes are glazed over and hazy, “It’s just me okay? See?” He holds his hands up in a placating gesture, “It’s just me.”

Daniel’s eyes flicker in recognition, nods, but his breathing is still erratic, “Daniel, just keep looking at me. It’s just me,” he reaches down and grabs his hand, moving as slow as possible not to scare him, placing the flat of his hand against his chest and holding it there, “You’ve gotta breathe with me alright? You need to work with me on this. Just think about all the zen shit Miyagi taught you.” He nods again, and Johnny breathes deep, ignoring the burning sensation, and it’s worth it when after a few attempts, Daniel starts to breathe with him.

He watches his shoulders visibly sag a few minutes into it, and the hazed-over expression starts to fade, and he blinks, twice, three times, “Johnny?”

He feels his lip twitch upward from a brief second, and tries to sound as gentle as he can, “Hey, lost you for a second there,” he runs his thumb over the knuckles still pressed to his chest, “you think you’re okay to stand? We should go inside.”

When Daniel nods again, he looks back at the kids. Sam looks visibly shaken, Miguel and Robby are not far behind her, and he barely knows how to deal with one person having a panic attack, let alone four so he tries to be as calm as he can, “Sam go grab the door, okay?” She nods and quickly races to the backdoor, “Robby, help me get him in the house. Miguel grab the crutches alright?”

Robby and Miguel look like they want to argue, but he fixes them with a hard look and they keep their mouths shut.

It’s honestly a struggle to get him to the bedroom, even when he regains some semblance of conscious thought, he’s little more than deadweight with his leg, and his own ribs groan in protest. When they do get him there, they gingerly help him sit on the bed.

While Daniel stares, unseeing, into the floorboards, he herds Robby back into the hallway with Sam and Miguel, closing the door softly behind him and leading them back to the living room, “All of you, go to your rooms. Now.”

“What, no, Dad-” Whatever protest Robby has dies in his throat when he cuts him off sharply.

“That shit you just pulled out in the yard? That is never happening again, do you understand me? Do any of you have any idea just how  _ fucking stupid _ that was?” He knows he’s being harsh but he needs them to  _ understand. _

“But Sensei we just-” But he really doesn’t want to hear it.

“ _ I know what _ you were trying to do, Miguel. It doesn’t fucking matter. Do you know how bad that could’ve been, if they’d actually been here to fight?" He knows his voice is steadily rising in volume, "LaRusso and I each have more experience than the three of you  _ combined _ , and you thought you could take on Kreese? We ended up in the hospital, LaRusso can't walk and it hurts when I fucking  _ breathe,  _ what do you think would happen to you? What were we supposed to do if you got hurt  _ again _ ? Or worse?”

The kids all look thoroughly chastised and he finds out quickly that it makes him feel like a huge piece of shit. They’re all in various stages of remorse- Robby and Miguel won’t meet his eyes and Sam is on the verge of tears.

He sighs, clenching his eyes shut against the pricking in the back of his own eyes and his rising anger, trying to soften his voice, “Just... just go to your rooms for a little bit, okay?”

When he opens them again, he gets a small nod from Miguel, and Robby finally looks up to meet his gaze, nodding too, “Okay Dad.”

He hears Sam’s small, choked-off sob before she’s lurching forward and wrapping her arms around his waist, and he can feel the tears seep through his shirt, “We’re sorry. We weren’t- we just didn’t want you and daddy to get hurt again.” His heart breaks a little, and he’s fighting back his own tears.

He wraps his arms around her shoulders, squeezing tight to his chest, voice quiet, “Yeah, I know, Princess, I know.”

“We’re sorry Dad.” The boys are quick to join her on either side. “Yeah we’re sorry.”

They release him after a bit and shuffle quietly down the hall.

He quickly walks through the house, double checking the locks and dead bolting the door, makes a mental note to go to the hardware store to get a more heavy duty one, before he goes back to Daniel's room.

He tries to open the bedroom door as quietly as he can, but it doesn’t matter, Daniel is still sitting where they left him, and he startles the second he sees him enter, “Hey, hey, it’s just me okay?” He moves to kneel in front of him.

“Where’d you go?” His voice is quiet enough that he has to strain to hear him even in the silence of the room. He looks completely exhausted, like even the effort of sitting upright is tiring.

He takes hold of his hand, threading them together and putting them against the same spot on his chest, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles, “I had to talk to the kids. They’re in their rooms right now.”

Daniel nods and closes his eyes, leaning forward just enough to rest his forehead against his own, "They're okay right?"

"A little spooked, but they'll be fine," he reaches up and cups his jaw, brushing a thumb over his cheek, "Honestly, they're really not the ones I'm worried about right now."

Daniel sighs, but leans into the hand, " _I'm_ _okay-_ "

" _ Daniel, _ " he tries to be gentle, "literally, nothing about the shit that just happened was okay. "

"Can we... Can we talk about it later? I  _ want _ to, we need to talk about it, but I can't-" his voice cracks, "I can't right now."

He wants to press it. He's obviously not telling him something, and it's  _ obviously  _ important, probably has to do with fucking weirdo in the goddamn ponytail. As much as he doesn't like or want to have this conversation, they need to.

But he just looks so tired and his resolve crumbles immediately.

"Yeah, that's fine, we don't have to talk about this now," he squeezes his hand and Daniel finally opens his eyes again, "Do you wanna lie down for a little while?"

"Will you stay?"  _ With me  _ he doesn’t say but Johnny still hears it in his head. Like that was even a question he had to ask. Like Johnny was ever gonna be able to say no to those doe eyes ever again. 

He presses a barely there kiss to the corner of his mouth, and tries to smile, "For you? Yeah."

It's a hassle honestly, helping him figure out the best way to lay down so he doesn't jostle his knee too much, and he knows he's gonna have to take a fistful of painkillers in a few hours, but they eventually figure it out. Daniel's bad leg over one of his own, tucked into his side, with his own arm wrapped around too thin shoulders.

He can't sleep, knows it'll be a long time before he'll be able to without straining to listen for any noise outside their door at night, checking and rechecking the locks, walking the halls and making sure the kids are  _ there and safe _ . Later he'll get up, go to the hardware store to buy half a dozen new locks, maybe a security system, pick up takeout from that place the kids like as an apology, suffer with Daniel on the couch through whatever awful movie the kids wanna see; and then, later still Daniel will tell him.

But for now he just lays there, listening to the soft snores from underneath his chin and thinks this is worth it.

_ For you? Always. _

**Author's Note:**

> I have two settings- Fluff and Angst. There is no in between and no alternative.  
> More angst coming in the next part too I'm so sorry.  
> No beta but lots of tears.


End file.
